I know I may write a bit too much about economics but I can’t help it always being on my mind as I spend week after week marketing and even starting up a new company. This time it’s a little different though. Today I attended my first citizenship swearing in ceremony in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. I was hired by a new client whom also is one of my investors, a prominent immigration lawyer here in Phoenix. My job was to shoot and edit a corporate video package for his law firm and the first gig was to shoot the end result of his successful work, acquiring U.S. citizenship. It was an interesting experience holding my big HD video camera on my shoulder as I panned through the crowd of our newest citizens. Sometimes we take for granted what we have in this country, even with the extreme housing market crash and high unemployment there are thousands upon thousands of people just trying to be a part of it all. The first big step to making their life the way they want it to be is this moment of gaining citizenship.

I’m not writing this as some proud American mind you I’m only sharing my observations. That being said there were a few things that bothered me. Listening to a crowd of people repeating after the judge that they will go to war and take up arms when or if it is ordered by the law to do so, hearing the repetition of everything being under “God”, and swearing off the nation of the birth, was somewhat bothersome to me but of course I have my opinions. Still listening to a woman from Nicaragua speak about how all of her children were born here and so was her husband, describing the importance of how good it feels to finally be a citizen of the same country as her immediate family as well as a citizen to a country she truly feels is hers, was quite moving. She spoke with tears of joy trying her best not to brake down and cry. It was also great seeing the West Africans dancing and singing loudly along with what I would describe as silly over-the-top patriotic music. But even though the music was silly to me it didn’t matter because their joy was contagious and that made it all okay. I saw people from 34 different countries sworn in today while doing my job, a job for the company I own and am proud to own in this country. As a third generation citizen it’s almost like looking at a historical event that my great-grandparents from Hungary also took part in.

We U.S. citizens have A LOT of work to do to get back on track…

I’m fortunate to have so many friends throughout the world reading this blog and socializing with me. I learn a lot almost every day and look forward to all that I will learn and experience in the days to come. In Buenos Aires our friends Alto Peru brought educated me about San La Muerte (Saint Death). I was confused at first by their video because I am limited in my knowledge of Argentina traditions and beliefs. Intrigued by their video I did my research and a bit more knowledgeable now. This is a great song and cool video.

In keeping with Argentina here is a new track from Elvegetal in Cordoba. Featuring dubstep beats mixed really well with cumbia and a deep grinding bass. Get your head around this.

Sonido Desconocido II is a special musical duo from Mexico that produces electro-cumbia. Every single one of their tracks and I mean EVERY is awesome in my opinion. I love their melodies, I love their beats, and I love their original vocals. And not too mention (but really to mention) their occasional synth shredding and tempo changes are really cool.

The Knife is a dope Swedish duo that H.D.L.T. (Hijo de la Tanga) had refixed before successfully. This time I have one from Mucho! Fristail, another member of the Argentinean society. I really love this refix tremendously!

In Sweden there is another talent I feel blessed to have found. Daniel Fridell is a musician with lots of soul and passion which is very evident in his recordings. He takes on cumbia in a unique organic way.

I love the jazzy African bass in this one. It reminds me of Victor Wooten and a little of the Bela Fleck sound.

My good friend Andres Digital is coming out with a new EP soon. Inna ReggaeCumbia Style Make sure to check it out as soon as it’s released. He’s kindly allowing Generation Bass to have first dibs on his promo-mix. Give your support to one of the greats Andres Digital!

Due to the nature of last week’s blog I had to hold off on a lot of these tracks until this week and I’m grateful to finally be able to post them here. For remixes there were a lot of great ones released in the past couple of weeks. The first one I wish to share is from Bigote. I don’t know this original song, I’ll be honest so I’m grateful to Bigot for bringing it to my attention with an awesome remix.

Another awesome remix of an American classic comes from my friends WEPA! Crew. They tackled Pearl Jam in a unique spacey way. It is minimal bringing forward Eddie Vedder’s vocals and completely re-working all the instrumental aspects. They made something crazy with it.

Art.Is from France and I love saying that. Art.Is is a fan of cumbia colombiana which you will see evident in their tracks. The SoundCloud description is a simple one, one that I agree with, “downtempo is better.”